No, No, No, No, No, No, No

             Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 

Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” (Exodus 4:1-17)

Moses’ answers? “What if they don’t believe me?... I am slow of speech…please send someone else.” The first answer might be justified. The second is an excuse. The third is rebellion. But they’re also very human. As I mentioned yesterday, my first response to God instructing or calling me is “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I lead with rebellion. Then I make excuses. I’ve argued with God and/or myself, “I’m not a jogger” and “I’m not a poet.” At one point, I swore I would never return to an organized classroom, but then He called me to go back to school and join a couple of organizations that focus on educating their members. My equivalent of an answer that might “be justified” is my contention that when it comes to people, something about me will turn people off. But the point isn’t whether you will get the results you want. It’s whether God will get the results He wants in their lives and in yours. And He knows whether “No, no, no, no, no, no, no” and “But I’m not a _____.” is leading to a “Oh, OK,” or a “Pardon me, find someone else.”